U.S. Drought Worsening, Wheat Crop Suffering

As the East Coast is still reeling from Hurricane Sandy, hot and dry conditions throughout middle America have been deepening, worsening the ongoing drought there, according to a new climatology report released Thursday.

Usually, October is the third-wettest month of the year for Texas, but this year there has barely been any rain at all. Last month was the ninth-driest October there since 1895.

Both Texas and Oklahoma have recorded temperatures that are above “normal” and have received practically no rain. And Kansas and Nebraska have also seen the droughts that they are experiencing expand.

These long-persisting droughts have limited the growth of the new winter wheat crop in those states, “as soil moisture levels were too low to spur normal plant development. Grazing for livestock was also poor as pastures remained parched.”